Radical Islamism and Jihad (08 Dec 2016 NewAgeIslam.Com)

The Ideological Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Islam: A Historical Reading - Part 1

By Prof. Maulana Syed Aleem Ashraf Jaisi

Translated from Urdu by New Age Islam
Edit Desk

08 December 2016

Throughout the history of Islam, there have
been two shades of ideological terrorism: one is geographical and another is
intellectual. The geographical terrorism started in the region of Najd [the
central geographical stretch of Saudi Arabia], whereas the ideology of the
Khārijites [sceders from Islam, the earliest Islamic sect which tried to turn
Islam into a religio-political caliphate system] represents intellectual
terrorism.

In the Islamic history, terrorism has been
a part of the land of earthquakes and affliction, Najd. Its rugged lands
neither had any industry nor any established businesses. Its extreme climatic
conditions and dry weather had become a part of the nature, temperament and
disposition of the people living in it. Since ancient times, the people of this
region had made looting and killing as their means of earning. It had become
the predominant and leading industry and the chief means of earning income.
Multiple times in the history, many social movements have used this situation
of the people of Najd for their own benefit.

The earliest Khawarij and later Wahhabi
movements went to the extreme extent in doing so. Another factor which caused
the people of Najd to be so bloodthirsty in their ideology was their history of
hatred with the inhabitants of the Hejaz (a region in the west of present-day
Saudi Arabia).

The age-old hostility between the tribes of
Mudhar and Rabi’a existed even before the advent of Islamic teachings of
Prophet Muhammed pbuh. The Quraish tribe—an integral part of the Mudhar clan—
had an enviable religious, political and economic supremacy over all the other
Arab clans, an aspect which further added fuel to the fire towards the enmity
between Rabi’a and Mudhar. The clans of Rabi’a were scattered in the deserts of
Najd and were named as the Arabs of Najd. These Arabs of Najd would involve
themselves in the adversities of life. Their living style was such that in
order to lead their life, they had to be extraordinarily hard and, therefore,
they constantly engaged in fighting for a livelihood due to the very limited
resources available to them.

These circumstances had made them very
courageous. Note that the famous Muslim historian, Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) has
mentioned primitivism and barbarism as sources of courage and bravery. After
the advent of Islam, the status of Quraish reached its apex and on the other
hand, the hatred of Arabs of Najd towards Quraish also started touching its
final limits. The Arabs of Najd saw the Prophethood of Rasulullah pbuh as a
strategy of Quraish to gain glory and power. Therefore, we can see through the
history that there is a long list of false claimants of Prophet hood in the
Rabi’a clans or the Arabs of Najd. In the final stages of the Prophetic era,
the Arabs of Najd, willingly or unwillingly, accepted Islam but Islam did not
enter into their hearts. Disbelief and hypocrisy, which Quran indicated
towards, remained in many of them. Even after the acceptance of Islam,
aggression & transgression, hostility and violence remained in the nature
of the Arabs of Najd, however there was a change in the resources. The
activities which they earlier used to perform without any ruling, after
accepting Islam, they started furnishing religious justification for the same
activities. Therefore they supported (and continue to support) all those
religious movements which paves the way for bloodshed to the maximum, like the
Khariji, Batini& the Wahhabi movements in the past and contemporarily
Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra Front & ISIS; which provided flawed religious
permissibility to their cruelty, barbarity and terrorist activities. The same
point was mentioned by Ibn Khaldun in his book Muqaddimah:

(Translation: “These Arabs move very
swiftly towards destruction. They wait for such a religious movement which
gives them permission for bloodshed, devastate and physical molestation)

The greatness of Ibn Khaldoon and his
knowledge cannot be questioned. It is clear from the facts based on historical
analysis. This condition of the Najdi Arabs is so true and realistic that a
brief study related to this region would prove the above point. Transgression,
disobedience, persecution and killing have been rampant there and are still a
part of the temperament of the Najdi Arabs. There has been a continuous chain
of terroristic activities which started in the form of Najdi impulse of
apostasy, soon after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

The centre of Najd was the inhabiting
region of Banu Hanifa tribe. Musaylmah, the false prophet, and Muhammad bin Abdul
Wahhab (d. 1792) belonged to the same region. The Arabs of Najd were also
involved in the assassination of the third Caliph of Muslims: Hazrat Usman (may
Allah be pleased with him) and even the Khawarij movement, which started during
the Caliphate of Hazrat Ali (r.a) originated from the very same region of Najd.

Eventually, two aspects of the Najdi
terrorism became compatible with each other: first is the actual or physical
form of terrorism which involves killing and infrastructural destruction and
the second is the ideological terrorism.

There is no other terrorist movement in the
Islamic history as bloody as the Najdi ideological movement, barring the Salafi
Jihadi Movements which combine the ideologies and institutions quite similar in
their theoretical designs.

The ideological axis of terrorism in the
Islamic history came into limelight in the form of Khawarij. A group of
extremists separated itself from the army of Hazrat Ali (r.a) in the Battle of
Siffeen during the arbitration. They later came to be known as Khawarij
(meaning: sceders from Islam). Their motto was: "Only Allah's rule"—
a phrase which every extremist and terrorist organization today uses as their
maxim. The bloodshed caused by the Khawarij has been the most nefarious throughout
the history of Islam.

Muhammad Abu Husain Melta writes in his
book Al-Tanbiyyah War-Rad: “When people used to assemble in the markets, the
Khawarijs would intrude by chanting the motto "there is no rule except
that of Allah's" and would violently bully people without any distinction
(translated from the original text in Arabic).

Issuing such religious decrees was just an
excuse. Actually, these extremists did not want the cessation of bloodshed,
murder, genocide and loot of others' property. Accordingly, they objected as to
why haven't the war prisoners been ordered to be slaughtered (by the Islamic
Shariah)? Why haven't they been enslaved? Why haven't their properties been
ordered to be looted? Ideally, in their view, the entire group of people who
support Hazrat Muawiyah (Allah be pleased with him) were Non-Muslims,
therefore, they wanted the supporters of Hazrat Muawiah to be treated as
disbelievers and when having found not being treated as such, they declared
Hazrat Ali and his group to be disbelievers. Thus, we see that in the name of
Islam, all the extremist groups have one thing in common: to declare all their
opponents as infidels or disbelievers. Making such declarations today, the
present-day extremists try to justify that the infidels’ property can be
looted, they can be dishonoured and that they can also be killed. Similar were
the beliefs of Khawarij and so are those of the ISIS.

(This
article was first published and circulated in Urdu on the occasion of the World
Sufi Forum recently held in March, 2016 in New Delhi).

TOTAL COMMENTS:- &nbsp 7

Dear Ghulam Mohiuddin Sahab,There must be hate narrative against the Prophet if the Qur'an is not to be falsified. This is what the Qur'an says:

“Thus we made for every messenger an enemy -
Satans from among men and jinn, some of them inspiring others with seductive
talk (in order to) deceive (them), and had your Lord pleased, they would not
have done it. Therefore, leave them and what they forge” (6:112).

“Thus we made for every messenger an enemy among
the criminals - but enough is your Lord (O Muhammad,) as a Guide and Helper” (25:31). By muhammad yunus - 12/9/2016 9:02:02 PM

Dear hats off!

My comment was in relation to the Arabs of Najd who brutally fanatic and violent by tradition as the article expounds in highly scholarly manner. I should have perhaps made myself more clear that the violent tribes (not all tribes) of Najd were determined to accommodate their violent customs (the like of which is demonstrated by ISIS and its likes) into the Islamic message. Since it was not possible, they rebelled against Islam, and were accordingly declared 'kharijites'

By muhammad yunus - 12/9/2016 5:36:38 AM

The Prophet had no grouse against anyone and the Quran does not hold every polytheist guilty but only the kafir or the persecutors of Muslims among them who had waged several battles to annihilate Islam and the Muslims.

By Naseer Ahmed - 12/9/2016 4:56:00 AM

A never ending hate war against the Prophet is a mindless exercise. One can, if one wishes, disagree with the concept of "last prophet" or with accounts of the treachery of the disbelievers, without waging an unbridled hate war against the Prophet.

By Ghulam Mohiyuddin - 12/9/2016 2:43:25 AM

dear mr muhammad yunus,

while you warn against charging all the najadi arabs for the heinous crimes committed by a few, we should also not charge all the pre-islamic arabs of "indiscriminate killings loot cruelty and barbarism" as you are doing.

especially since none of them are left today - all having been forced into islam. by hook or by crook.

or is there a different standard as far as the pre-islamic arabs are concerned?

the prophet's grouse against these folks is that they did not accept his "prophethood". just as muslims are unable to accept the prophethood of mirza ghulam ahmed.

no prophet should ever have any grouse against a whole population, just as we should not paint all the pre-islamic people of all the crimes you accuse them of.

most important of all no prophet should declare himself as the last. this is the monopoly pf prophecy.

monopoly is a hateful technic. as hateful as religious "exclusivity" as it has been termed.

regards.

By hats off! - 12/9/2016 12:20:36 AM

An excellent article - must read for those
who regard the Satanic ISIS cult as an off-shoot of Islam.

The article demonstrates in a convincing
with strong historical backing that the ISIS ideology parallels that of the
brutal Kharijites of the Caliph Ali’s era and represents a bloody rebellion
against the nascent Islam aimed at restoring the pre-Islamic Jahiliya of
indiscriminate killing, loot, cruelty and barbarism into Islam.

I am quite reassured to read this article
and will sincerely congratulate the author for his erudition and in-depth
knowledge of the Najdi Arabs movement to restore pre-Islamic barbarism into
Islam.

I will add the following Qur’anic allusions
to the various claims of the article lest those who want to derail any fruitful
discussion may question the authenticity of the article:

This is how the Qur’an captures the
deceitful and defiant attitude of desert Arabs:

“And some among the desert Arabs came with
excuses to seek exemption (from the expedition), but those who had lied to
Allah and His Messenger sat [at home]. There will strike those who betrayed among
them a painful punishment (9:90).

“The desert Arabs are intense in disbelief
and hypocrisy and more likely not to know the limits of what Allah has revealed
to His Messenger. And Allah is Knowing and Wise” (9:97)

“And among the desert Arabs are some who
consider what they spend as a loss and await for misfortune to befall you [O
Muhammad]. Upon them a misfortune of evil. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing.”
(9:98)

“And among desert Arabs around you are
hypocrites, and [also] from the people of Madinah. They have become accustomed
to hypocrisy. You, [O Muhammad], do not know them, [but] We know them. We will
punish them twice [in this world]; then they will be returned to a great
punishment (9:101).

“Those who remained behind of the desert
Arabs will say to you ,[O Muhammad] "Our properties and our families
occupied us, so ask forgiveness for us." They say with their tongues what
is not within their hearts. Say, "Then who could prevent Allah at all if
He intended for you harm or intended for you benefit? Rather, ever is Allah ,
with what you do, Acquainted” (48:11)

There are also a verse that gives a clear hint
that the desert Arabs even plotted to kill the Prophet:

“They swear by God that they have said
nothing (treacherous), whereas they certainly did utter word of treachery after
having entered the fold of Islam, and they plotted what they could not
achieve….” (9:74)

It worth mentioning the Qur’an does not
castigate all the desert (Najdiajdi) Arabs and acknowledges that:

”Among the Bedouin Arabs there are also
those who believe in God and the Last Day, and take what they spend (as
offerings) to gain nearness to God and obtain the Messenger’s invocation.
Indeed, it is a means for them to draw near to God. God will admit them into
His mercy. Surely, God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate” (9:99)

“Others (there are who) have admitted their
sins: they have intermingled a righteous deed with an evil one. It may be that
God will return their repentance with forgiveness..” (9:102)

Hence, we must not charge all the Najadi
Arabs or Wahhabis for the heinous crimes committed by a small faction of their
posterity in this era.

At the same time we must have the
conviction of faith to declare the ISIS ideology as an anti-dote to the Qur'anic
message - a cult of Shaytan as expounded in my recent article:

By refering to the Khawarijis as "they", we seem to excuse ourselves from the responsibility of considering what needs to be done with Islam itself in order to eradicate the possibility of khawarijism raising its ugly head again and again.